


big and little words all spelling out desire

by revanchxst (BadWolfGirl01)



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, Light Side Sith Warrior, M/M, Planet Manaan (Star Wars), Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Star Wars: The Old Republic - Shadow of Revan, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23881561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolfGirl01/pseuds/revanchxst
Summary: a first meeting, on Manaan.
Relationships: Male Sith Warrior & Jaesa Willsaam, Male Sith Warrior & Lana Beniko, Theron Shan/Male Sith Warrior
Comments: 3
Kudos: 66
Collections: Minigame: Round 1





	big and little words all spelling out desire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [greygerbil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/gifts).



> i was gonna do so much more with this but i got super insecure about it, so i decided to keep it short and sweet. i hope you like it, grey! this is my first time writing for swtor so i was more than a little nervous haha.
> 
> title from "litany in which certain things are crossed out" by Richard Siken

_ You don’t know me, but I’m here with Lana. _

The words are gold, tattooed in sinuous curves around Kael’s forearm, the final aurek resting directly over the pulse point in his wrist, the color clearly visible on his dark red skin (the color of old blood, one of his mother’s slaves had said once, and his mother had laughed at the comparison but Kael hadn’t). The words have been there since he was born, an aurebesh snake coiled around his left arm, and Kael remembers tracing them with a fingertip when he was young, wondering just who this person would be. Another Sith had seemed likely - his mother wouldn’t allow him to acknowledge being soulmates with anyone less, it just wouldn’t do for someone of his pure bloodline to match with anyone else, according to her - but as the years passed and even Kael’s few weeks in the Academy on Korriban and subsequent time crossing the galaxy at Baras’ whim hadn’t turned up even a whisper of his words, Kael had begun to… not exactly give up on the idea of his soulmate, but move on.

He didn’t have  _ time _ for soulmates, anyway, not when he was tracking down Jaesa (he’d turned her in part to keep from having to kill her, in part because he’d wanted her power on his side, in part because leaving her to Baras was- terrifying at best, the man would’ve ripped her apart), not when he was executing Plan Zero on his master’s orders, not when he was presumed dead and working to stop Baras’ plans to be recognized as the Emperor’s Voice.

Still, he’d begun to think that maybe he didn’t have a soulmate, anymore (maybe they were dead, it happens, sometimes, soulmates dying unexpectedly before you can meet them, leaving their words unspoken on your skin), or maybe the words were wrong and he’d just never meet them. That’s not usual, but it’s known, a person zigs when the Force thought they’d zag and they miss their soulmate by inches or by miles or by planets.

Then he meets Lana.

Kael dislikes and distrusts Arkous almost immediately, but as soon as Lana Beniko speaks he knows - this is someone who shares his pragmatic view of things, who will understand when he lets someone live instead of die, and  _ this is someone who will be with his soulmate. _

There could be more than one Lana, in the galaxy, but the Force feels like it’s pushing him towards her, almost, and so he changes his mind, agrees to lead the attack on Tython, and then the retaking of Korriban: two attacks that hardly change anything, in his mind. The Jedi retake the Temple almost immediately, and despite the fact that Arkous says he got what he needed, some artifact, no one sees it. There doesn’t seem to be any logic to the raid on Korriban, either, from the Jedi’s point of view; why would they risk so many men to take the Academy, just for them all to be killed hours later?

Kael is not a fan of conspiracies, but he understands how things work in the Empire, the plotting and manipulations between every Sith. He grew up watching his mother, and he was a pawn in Baras’ own game. He thinks he’s learned enough from those experiences to recognize power plays when he sees them.

So when Lana comes to him with her concerns, Kael doesn’t doubt her. When she asks him to cross the galaxy for her, to meet her on Manaan, he does. He’s begun to have his own bad feeling about this all, rolling through the Force like a warning, and Lana is a capable Sith and is becoming a good friend. Kael’s true allies are few enough that he’s not willing to discard what friends he has  _ (true _ friends, not toadies like his mother who are only interested in him because of his power and his title).

So he goes to Manaan. And he cuts a wide slash through the underwater lab’s defenses, only for Arkous and Darok  _ (damn _ the man, working with a Republic officer, how could he?) to get away at the last second. Rakatan tech, of course it’s Rakatan, nothing good ever comes out of the old Infinite Empire. (He remembers Tatooine well enough, still, the thing Czerka dug up.)

He fights the prototype in the flooding lab, fire jetting from the ceiling, and when Kael finally kills the damn thing, makes it over to the comm unit with Jakarro beside him, he can barely breathe.

Then an unfamiliar voice speaks, one he somehow  _ knows _ even though he’s never heard it before.  _ “You don’t know me, but I’m here with Lana.” _

It’s like a shock to his system, and what little breath he had is ripped out of his chest as the man - his  _ soulmate _ \- talks about an escape pod, remote piloting it to their location, and he only barely manages to retain any of that at all, because- his  _ soulmate. _

There’s a pause, and the way the silence feels he’s clearly expected to say something, but- “You’re with the Republic.” It’s the only thing he can get out, because he’d recognized the man’s accent.

There’s another long pause, and then the man speaks again, softer.  _ “Yeah,” _ he says, voice crackling just a touch over the comms.  _ “And you’re with the Empire.” _

_ “Wookiees are not built to withstand the crushing depths!” _ Jakarro says, and Kael forces himself to  _ focus. _

“You’ve got that pod ready?” he asks. “The water’s up to my waist now.”

_ “Yeah, you’re good to go.” _

It’s not a long ride to the surface, although being stuck in a small pod with a wet Wookiee is less than fun - Jaesa keeps giving him  _ looks, _ like there’s anything he can do about the smell. Even if he could, that’s hardly what he’s worried about right now.

They meet Lana and their new ally, Theron, at the surface, and it’s all Kael can do to keep from staring at dark hair and dark eyes, because the man is  _ beautiful. _ He’s sure Jaesa is laughing at him in the background, but he’s seen the way she stares at Vette, so she really doesn’t have a leg to stand on. “Let’s get a drink,” he says, after Lana’s finished.

She sighs, exasperated, shakes her head. “Did either of you listen to a thing I said?” she asks, though there is a little trace of amusement in her voice.

“Revanites,” Theron says, shrugging, not taking his eyes off Kael’s. “Drinks sound great, you got any ideas where we could go?”

“My ship,” Kael offers, smiles a little. Lana scoffs and rolls her eyes, shaking her head and walking over to one side of the room to talk to Jakarro. “I have drinks and a very nice couch.”

Theron’s eyes dance and he smiles, says, “Taking me home already? I thought you’d at least take me to dinner first.”

Oh, Kael likes this one. “I can offer you dinner as well, if you like,” he says, tries not to let his smile show too obviously. “I cook.”

“You never cook for me, Master,” Jaesa grumbles, and Kael rolls his eyes at her.

“You aren’t my soulmate, Jaesa. What do you say, Theron? Dinner and drinks?”

“I think that sounds wonderful,” Theron says with another of those little smiles, amd Kael-

This won’t be easy, he knows. Theron’s a Republic agent, Kael’s a Sith, and his mother’s certainly going to throw a fit when she finds out his soulmate isn’t even Force-sensitive - but it’ll be worth it, if only he gets to see that little smile directed at him time after time again.

He’ll make it work.


End file.
